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We ran a no A/C warranty call today on a 6 month old Trane 410a system that we installed. The tech found that a rat had actually chewed a hole through the aluminum tubing on the condenser. This bionic rat was no where to be seen just a nest and teeth marks all over the tubing. This wasn't just a small hole but a big gapping hole, indicating that after getting blasted in the face with freon he actually came back for more!

I have experienced first hand the damage that one rat can do. But chewing through metal is a first. I would hate to have this rat lurking around my house.

Some other company probably has some rat trained to go out and chew up the competition's condensers
.....Hey, that's not a bad idea

Yeah, like attach little business cards to the rats neck.

Seriously, a few weeks ago I was replacing an a/c and the ho showed me where squirrels had chewed up the hose *AND* the aluminum regulator to his lp gas grill on the deck. The tank had been left on, and was empty. The regulator had a hole chewed in it about 1" in diameter and you could see the spring inside.

I once installed a brand new Trane and a while later someone shot a hole in the condenser with a pellet rifle. The previous round Carrier unit had been pinned up against the back of the building by a car, and crushed in the middle like a beer can.

The owner's insurance paid for the replacement of the Carrier with the Trane, and they were a little upset when I told them Trane wouldn't cover the second problem, nor would I eat the labor. Either their insurance would have to cover it again, or it would be out of the owner's pocket.

Originally posted by midhvac I once installed a brand new Trane and a while later someone shot a hole in the condenser with a pellet rifle. The previous round Carrier unit had been pinned up against the back of the building by a car, and crushed in the middle like a beer can.

The owner's insurance paid for the replacement of the Carrier with the Trane, and they were a little upset when I told them Trane wouldn't cover the second problem, nor would I eat the labor. Either their insurance would have to cover it again, or it would be out of the owner's pocket.

Customer's need to realize that we have families to feed to. They can't expect us to cover everything. This case for example, it wasn't your damn fault, you have every right to expect payment.

There are 3 ways to do anything in life; Good, Fast, Slow: You can pick any 2.

In this case, there is no warranty coverage from you or from TRANE. Rats are not covered under warranty so, the HO's insurance policy will be the lucky one's to pay for this, after the HO pays the deductible of course.
I had a customer try to make me cover the cost of replacing all the thermostat wire in her home from rats chewing through it because she had a "warranty" on her AC system. I told her rats weren't covered by the policy, you shoulda seen the fireworks then!

Originally posted by william antley
I had a customer try to make me cover the cost of replacing all the thermostat wire in her home from rats chewing through it because she had a "warranty" on her AC system. I told her rats weren't covered by the policy, you shoulda seen the fireworks then!

I once ran a home warranty call. The ho was a giant of a man with lots of tattoos. I diagnosed the problem as a fried brand new digital setback stat. I had the unfortunate job of telling him the warranty specifically excludes coverage of digital stats. I quoted him a price for replacing it. He got in my face with his fists clenched and started yelling at me and said he wasn't going to pay me a dime for anything.

While I'm usually a pacifist, I'd been having a bad day and something in me just snapped at that point. With his face 6" from mine, I shortened that distance by half and locked eyes with him and told him that, yes, he was in fact going to pay my bill, and that it was his responsibility to read his warranty before calling.

His entire demeanor changed immediately and he became very nice, (thank God!) and explained to me that he traded some work with an hvac man to install a Second Wind humidifier and the new stat, but that he couldn't get him to come back when he started having problems.

He offered to pay me for putting his old stat back on and checking his system. I immediately discovered the humidifier was wired wrong and fried, and took the stat with it.

Originally posted by i_got_ideas Everyone's a big scary guy to me ...I'm only 5'10" and 130#s.

I've only had one really go off on me, and he was a huge M-Fer,..... I told him I was shutting down his furnace because of a crack. I held my own but I could've just **** myself.

We actually had to fire a guy a while back, just about your size for fighting with a customer twice his size. Our tech beat the dog**** out of the maint. mgr. at a plant we service, for stepping on the toe of his brand new steel toe boots. The mgr. had a habit of checking for this and had done this in the past. Our tech told him at that time to never do that again, that he alone had paid for them and disliked them being done that way.

The boss did not want to fire the guy but it was a safety thing. Just remember Ideas....It's not the size of the dog in the fight, but the size of the fight in the dog. LOL